How to be Forever Alone [#Wattys2020]

7.

To my right, I found the red-haired woman beside me. She had this beautiful smile that I only envied to have.

"Well hello again," she says.

My awkwardness was getting to me.

Just say hi!

"Hi." I finally reply.

I'm not sure what to do now. I wonder if I should say something more or do I just go back to doing whatever I was doing before. In that case, I would be doing nothing.

"So... Are you travelling alone?" she asks.

I nod, "Yeah. You?"

"No," she shakes her head, "I'm meeting up with a friend in Ireland before we head out again."

I just go along with this small talk, it's a good distraction. Although, I don't know what I'm distracting myself from anymore.

"Sounds like you're going on vacation," I add to the conversation.

"Oh it's more than that," she responds, her eyebrows slightly raised. "I've been planning this trip for a while now. She doesn't even know I'm coming. It's going to be quite the surprise."

She, I assumed was her friend.

"That's nice," I tell her.

"Yeah," she smiles looking away briefly, "it's been a while since we've seen each other."

I wasn't sure how to continue our talk now. It's not as if I was trying to be rude, I just didn't know what to talk about.

As if it was a saving grace, the plane started to move backwards, we were getting ready to take off.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome aboard flight 709." a man said over the intercom.

It was your typical speech about safety features on a plane and what to do in case of an emergency landing. It was nothing I hadn't heard before.

Quickly, I pulled my seatbelt just a little tighter. For some unknown reason, I always do this before the plane takes off. Maybe it's some sort of nervous reaction.

"You scared of flying?" the red-haired woman questions.

"No," I respond quickly. Calmer I say, "At least I don't think so."

"Don't worry," she starts, "I used to do the same thing when I started flying back and forth from here to Ireland."

"So this isn't your first time visiting?" I somewhat ask.

"No," she smiles, "I've been coming and going for the past three years."

"Oh," I say.

Oh! Really that's all you say to her, oh!

We fell quiet for a while, especially since we're seconds from flying off the ground.

The feeling you get as soon as you leave the runway feels like such a rush followed by this immediate sensation of floating, even when you're not actually doing that.

In minutes, you're almost above the clouds but can still see the highways and the people driving to work. They almost look as if they're toys from up here.

Within the first hour of the flight, I found myself about to fall asleep. I understand that that's all I've been doing this morning, but on the inside, my body is craving it. And I don't hate sleeping either.

The crazy dreams I have are a sort of way for me to escape reality. I create these gigantic worlds in my head and it just feels amazing. Even when I wake up, there's a small part of me that wishes the real world is really in my dreams. But that's why they're dreams, aren't they? So you can somehow aspire for a greater world.

Anyways, there's still some good parts to reality. For example, this red-haired woman, whose name still eluded me. She's pretty and from what I could tell, she loves to talk.

If you could believe it, I've now spent over five hours sitting in this same seat. My back is starting to get sore and all I can think of now is kissing the ground once we land. The turbulence is starting to make me feel a little sick to my stomach.

"You get used to it eventually," the red-haired woman tells me.

I give her a small smile, "I don't doubt it."

"Sure you don't," she says.

"What makes you think I do?" I ask her.

"I don't know," she smiles "maybe just the whole vibe radiating off of you."

She wasn't wrong. I looked like I could lose everything in my gut if I moved too quickly. Potentially that wouldn't even be my fault if this plane doesn't find smoother air, or you know... the ground. The ground would be the most ideal.

"If this makes you feel any better," the woman starts, "we'll be in Ireland in less then an hour."

"That's the greatest news I've heard in the last few hours," I say.

"Well that's good," she replies.

We spent a moment not saying anything, but I could tell that she wanted to tell me something.

"I'm Petal by the way," she tells me.

"Claire," I say. "I would shake your hand, but I don't think they're the cleanest after being on this plane all day."

"Yeah, that's something I definitely don't doubt," she almost giggles.

I almost laugh with her, but there's also a side of me that didn't want to disturb the other passengers. My laugh is something that would probably wake up everyone in a small town if you gave me the chance to prove it.

I've never wanted to be that person that everyone hates on a plane. I've seen those Instagrams dedicated for the most unruly of people. Why would anyone ever decide to stick their bare feet on the armrest of the person in front of them? Gross!

"Ladies and gentlemen," a voice comes over the intercom, "please put your tray tables up and your seat in the upright position. We are beginning our descent."

This news just overpowered my last greatest news of the day and has taken first place. It's probably been my most anticipated news of all time.

"Would you look at that," Petal says, "we're a little ahead of schedule."

Now that's even better news.

I peered out the window slightly and saw as we slowly made our way down towards the ground. As soon as I could spot the runway, I felt this sense of relief. I've missed the ground.

Missing...

Would I miss Petal?

Or am I really missing someone else?